If your writing feels vanilla, the likely problem with your novel or short story is that it shows rather then tells. Just what does that mean exactly, and how can you fix it? Here are seven great tips for tackling show don’t tell problems in your writing. Click the linked title for the full article:
• Avoid exposition (Show, don’t tell!)
Want to slow your story to a glacial grind and get readers to quit reading your story? Then load it with lots of exposition. Problems arising with exposition often (and rightfully) elicit cries of “Show, don’t tell!” from editors.
• Be aware of which dramatic mode you’re using
When writing fiction, the tale tends to shift in the way the author tells the story. The method or approach used is called a mode. Being aware of which modes are available or that you’re using can help you determine how to best construct and revise your story.
• Avoid a big info dump
An info dump is a chunk of exposition that is insufficiently integrated into the story being told. It’s also known as an “expository lump” and is a specific kind of exposition.
• How to incorporate info dumps into your story
Sometimes you do need to include the information provided in the info dump in your story. The best way to accomplish that is to incorporate it into your tale.
• Avoid ‘As you know’ Syndrome
Whatever you do, avoid embedding exposition by having one character say to another, “As you know …” This is commonly given in science fiction stories by a “Stapledon”, which is a character who gives us an info dump, usually one at great length and without interruption.
• How to show rather than tell
You don’t have to write for very long before hearing the cry of “Show don’t tell!” or “Too much exposition!” The advice is given for good reason. Exposition (or telling) typically fails to be either evocative or engaging. So how do you fix exposition?
• Think of your story as a stage production
Sometimes when plotting your short story or novel, thinking of it in terms of a theatrical or film production is useful. That’s because theater and film relies heavily on physical action to make the story work; beginning novelists and short story writers sometimes lose sight of the necessity for action and so get lost in their word-heavy medium.
• To eliminate exposition in story, “film it”
When editing a draft of your novel or short story, one self-test you might use is to “film it,” a term coined by CSFW’s Steve Popkes. To do this, as reading the manuscript imagine that it is a movie or screenplay being played out in front of you.
• When exposition is necessary in a story
Of course, sometimes exposition is necessary for expediency’s sake. But it should appear sparingly.
• Embedding exposition into your story
Sometimes you simply must include exposition into your story, especially in science fiction when you’re dealing with entirely new worlds, alien races and technologies. Good writers handle this dilemma by embedding expository information into their stories.
• What if I edit out too much exposition?
One dilemma that novice writers often run into when writing a new draft of their story is a fear of cutting too much exposition. It’s an unfounded fear.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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